Alchemy no Jutsu
by Karia Ithilai
Summary: FMA Naruto crossover. It started as an innocent Summoning Jutsu, but it pulled Ed out of his own world and into Konoha. Now, he must fight for his life against the Akatsuki and race against time. [REWRITTEN Dec 5 2007]
1. Hello Konoha

Disclaimer: I do not the series Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist

_Rewritten December 5, 2007_

Alchemy no Jutsu: Hagane no Shinobi

Chapter 1: Hello Konoha

_I want to believe in Equivalent Exchange, but I know, deep down, it is not true. The world just isn't perfect. It never has been, never will be._

_-Edward Elric, 17_

* * *

If someone had asked him, a year ago, what he would have found surprising, Edward Elric would probably have laughed and said '_nothing_'. And he wouldn't be far off either – he had survived and experienced first-hand things that seemed to belong in impossible fantasy novels rather than real life. Between human transmutation, fighting homunculi, sealing people's souls into inanimate objects, world-hopping, and even dying once or twice, there just wasn't much more that could faze the blonde alchemist anymore. He had accepted the oddities as something that came with being a genius, and Ed was pretty much a genius in everything he tried. Except, of course, growing taller.

Life had been good, for a while. He had, in the end, managed to get away from Earth via an ancient Stonehenge, a Thule Society, and, of course, the good ol' Gate. God knows what a mess _that_ had been. But those things were firmly placed in his mind as 'Better-Left-Forgotten', and he was working on enjoying life as it was. Hell, Al had gotten his flesh body back, he had a steady job as a State Alchemist and as Colonel Elric at Central (though now, it was as an actual livelihood rather than a means to access research), and who gave a damn about a metal limb here and there?

With all the crap that he had gone through, the missions Central assigned seemed almost like a joke. High-priority, dangerous, life-risk…whatever. After you had faced down a goddamn _legion_ of immortal humanoids with strange powers behind a centuries old conspiracy, a small terrorist group here and there was child's play.

All in all, Life was good. Too good.

Damn it, he should have known that something would have gone wrong. 'Peace and quiet' just wasn't part of his job description.

The latest mission had _looked_ normal on paper. Area with weird happenings, some military personnel coming out of it gibbering mad, alchemy screwing up in the forests, reconnaissance, yada yada yada. Mustang had gone on and on about how the mission would be dangerous for any State Alchemist, and that the Fullmetal had never failed him when it involved, in the General's exact words, 'stupidity, stubbornness, and a bit of brawling here and there'. It was no different from the usual pre-mission sarcasm and antagonizing.

Except, once he had actually stepped into the forest, every 'danger' alarm in his head had gone off, and Ed knew right away that something was very, _very_ wrong. Something was drawing him deeper into the forest, as if an inexorable hand had grabbed him by the collar and proceeded to drag him towards it. Stumbling, cursing, back-pedaling – it didn't matter what the alchemist tried – Ed found himself getting deeper and deeper into the forest with the pulling force getting stronger and the intervals between tugs getting shorter and shorter.

And when it happened, it happened in a flash. For all his brilliance in alchemy, he utterly failed to understand what exactly happened the moment he set foot into the forest clearing. The strange force had given him a very hard, almost painful (and rude) _shove_ forward, before everything dissolved into a swirl of darkness. The next thing he knew, there was an explosion, a flurry of dust and smoke, and then the Fullmetal Alchemist found himself standing in the middle of a bunch of oddly dressed people armed to the _teeth_. True, it was extremely foreign and primitive weaponry, but what he had dropped in on most certainly _wasn't_ a tea party.

To put it simply, he had been completely bewildered. Ed gritted his teeth. There was a reason he was here. There was a reason for everything, as Ed firmly believed, but at the moment, the older Elric brother had no idea how immense that reason was.

He had no idea that another legend was beginning.

That there was another world to be saved.

* * *

Tsunade knew that the Akatsuki was going to cause much heartache if she didn't do something about it soon. She also realized that attacking them directly with their thinly spread manpower was definitely a Bad Idea – if her memory served her right, a single member of the Akatsuki had single-handedly wiped out the Uchiha clan in a night, coming out unscathed. If each one of them was that dangerous, she wasn't about to jump blindly into open opposition. She wasn't tired of life just yet.

As she always did when she reached a dead end, Tsunade, as the Hokage of Konoha, had set out to see Kikyo, the Seer. Now Kikyo was an ancient, withered, old woman who lived reclusively in the forest northwest of Konohagakure and only gave advice in time of need. However, she was also known as a secretive and vague bitch who never said anything straight out. Tsunade had spent half her morning tearing through the thick trees and underbrush to reach the old woman's house, and left the place with nothing more than a strange prophecy and a battered old summoning scroll written in a language she couldn't read.

The old Seer had said something along the lines of, "_Seek the eyes of gold and the limbs of steel. Call him forth from world, through Gate, to heart – the one whose soul has seen and shall reveal the necessary lost, forgotten art._" If that wasn't cheesy poetry, she didn't know _what_ it was. Still, Tsunade had dutifully opened up the scroll in her study, and then spent countless hours upon hours pouring over the strange language and trying to make heads or tails of the vague prophecy. Still, she wasn't Hokage for nothing, and Tsunade had reached the point where she was fairly certain that the diagrams were an array of some kind, and the strange language was a set of instructions, then a chant.

She called together the best and the brightest of her elite Jounin to attempt the summoning of whoever or whatever it was that they needed to find. It was similar to a normal summoning – they were gathered around the circle and had to channel chakra into the strange design at the same moment. Tsunade and a group of elite Jounin ninja had attempted the summoning, channeling their chakra into the strange, summoning circle the scroll told Tsunade to draw. But the moment the last words of the chant had faded, Tsunade had seen a crackle of brilliant blue light flare along the lines of the array, and a huge amount of chakra was sucked out through her fingertips. The resulting explosion was quite impressive, filling the closed room they were in with dust and smoke.

Tsunade was coughing up dust and grit like everyone else before she spotted the silhouette someone standing in the middle of the circle and wasn't there before. As the dust settled, she could tell it was a boy – one with golden hair tied back in a loose and a fair complexion, albeit a bit lacking in the vertical department. He was wearing a black shirt and pants beneath his red overcoat, all of them of strange and foreign design. The way he was standing was stiff and unnatural, as if something had just caught him by surprise.

Then he turned towards her, and she found herself staring into twin pools of brilliant gold. His eyes were gold.

_Seek the eyes of gold and limbs of steel. Summon him from a world apart. He alone knows how, to demons, seal. Learn from him the lost, forgotten art._

Unbeknownst to her, another legend had begun. Another tale of courage, determination, skill, and luck.

Another tale of a world to be saved.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_For clarification, this was rewritten December 5, 2007. At the moment, Edward is 17 and Naruto & Co are also the same age. Sasuke has returned to Konoha and been cleared of charges, but is still seeking revenge on his brother. The trio (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura) are Jounin, but becoming legendary for their exploits. The Akatsuki is tracking down all the sealed demons (Ichibi, Kyuubi, etc)._

_Hope you enjoy the ride. Please leave a REVIEW!_


	2. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a beat up laptop to type with and a defective brain.

**Alchemy no Jutsu: Hagane no Shinobi**

Chapter 2: Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke

_I…have nearly killed my best friend, betrayed my country, and broken countless hearts, and…yet, they still accept me for who I am and what I must do. I still distance myself, but they do not falter from my side. Is this part of your equivalent exchange?_

_-Uchiha Sasuke, 17

* * *

_

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, being elite Jounin from Leaf, were amongst Tsunade's handpicked ninja to summon this '_mysterious'_ person from _a world apart_ to seal the demons. Naruto didn't understand why this specific person had to do the sealing – why couldn't they just use ninjutsu? However, Sasuke had reminded him that, if they used ninjutsu, the Akatsuki could undo it and extract the demon inside, which would defeat the purpose of sealing the demon. Sakura also added that, to seal the demon, the sealer had to sacrifice their life.

Nevertheless, the summoning was unlike anything Naruto, or any of the other Jounin for that matter, had seen before. They had drawn this incredibly complex _circle_ on the ground and were supposed to channel their chakra into it. Naruto had placed both hands on the circle and tried, concentrating despite the Kyuubi growling its disapproval inside him. Once his chakra reached that strange, circular array, the whole thing glowed with a strange, blue light and Naruto felt as if chakra was being sucked out of him. The light grew blindingly intense before disappearing in an explosion, leaving Naruto feeling slightly drained.

To Naruto's right, Sasuke was down on one knee, panting heavily with his head down. Sakura had collapsed on top of her legs, almost completely drained of chakra. Actually, looking around, almost everyone was tired out, even Tsunade-sama. He came out all right because the Kyuubi automatically replenished his depleted chakra.

Naruto heard Sasuke gasp suddenly, causing the blonde ninja to squint into the settling dust. Someone was standing in the middle of the circle. The dust completely settled and many other Jounin rose slowly to their feet, feeling their chakra slowly recover again. Complete silence deafened Naruto before Tsunade stood up and asked the person, "Stranger, are you the prophesized one? Can you explain why we have summoned you?"

Again, there was silence. Naruto strained his ears, waiting for a dramatic reply that would assure him when he heard a voice that was obviously male, and no older than 17 years old. "Would someone please tell me where the HELL I am?"

Tsunade seemed taken aback by this sudden outburst. No doubt, she was expecting…well…someone older, wiser, and taller. This…_boy_ didn't look any older than thirteen, even if his voice indicated around seventeen. True, his eyes were gold, but what about the limbs of steel?

She answered, "You are in Konoha, the Hidden Village of Leaf." The boy gave a confused look, and then seemed to understand and curse under breath once he noticed the strange, summoning array drawn on the ground. Tsunade seemed reassured by this and again, asked, "Do you know why you were summoned?"

Ed, of course, knew exactly _how_ he was 'summoned,' but that wasn't what was bothering him. If this circle was here, then he was no longer in Amestris, but some other world. Moreover, it had to happen just one year after he got back to his own world too!

Ed turned to the person addressing him. "I have no idea what you dragged me out of my own world, but, now that I'm here, I want a reasonable explanation. In other words, WHY THE HECK AM I HERE!"

A Jounin leapt forward and threw a kunai at him, shouting indignantly, "How dare you show such impudence to Hokage-sama! Any other person would have been killed on the spot!"

Ed saw the knife fly at him without any sign of disturbance, raised his right arm, and let the knife glance off the automail. Tsunade heard the impact and drew a sharp intake of breath. _Seek the eyes of gold and limbs of steel._ Yes, this boy was the one.

"Boy, we have summoned you because we heard you could help us. Our situation is dire. We know you are not obligated to help us, but we beg of you. All will be explained if you agree to help us." Tsunade pleaded, crossing her fingers behind her back, hoping for his assent.

Ed looked around him. Every person present seemed to plead him with their eyes. He finally sighed, and said, "Alright, since I can't go home anyways until I figure out how your world works, I'll help you for now. I have no idea why you summoned me, of all people, but I'll see what I can do."

A whoop of victory sounded out behind him and Ed turned to see a blonde, a girl with _pink_ hair, and someone who reminded him very heavily of Roy Mustang, complete with the annoying smirk and hands shoved into his pockets. They were easily the youngest people here, about his age. The blonde waved at him and smiled a wide grin, "Hoy, Tsunade-sama, can he come with us? After all, he's about our age too!" Ed looked behind him and saw the woman who had been addressing him, this Tsunade-sama, and saw her contemplate the idea, then nod. Tsunade decided that it would be best to learn about him through Naruto and his friends because they seemed about the same age.

"I'll agree for now, Naruto, but it's up to you to make sure nothing happens to him." Naruto grinned again before shifting his attention to Ed. The rest of the Jounin began to disperse and leave, having finished what they came to do. Ed walked over to the blonde-haired person, apparently Naruto, and his two friends.

"Hi! I'm Uzimaki Naruto, the greatest ninja of all time! This is Haruno Sakura, and the guy with the scowl is my best friend, Uchiha Sasuke." The Roy-like person looked away and scowled more. Ed felt it was only common courtesy to give his own name.

"Ah, I'm Edward Elric, Ed for short. Nice to meet you." Ed held out his right hand, then decided against it and switched to his left. Naruto grabbed his hand and shook vigorously. Sakura gave a small curtsey and Sasuke nodded his head politely.

"ALRIGHT! Now let's go get some ramen! Sasuke, it's you're turn to pay! Oh, and afterwards, let's take Ed to the training grounds!"

The four teenagers left the room, one excitedly talking and the other three following along in amused silence.

* * *

A/N:

okay, now for a question: do you prefer short chapters that get uploaded quickly or longer chapters that take a while to write? tell me in a review

I'm trying to update as fast as possible, so bear with me. the chapters are a bit short for now, but the first two were originally one chapter, and I split them to make short chapters...

so, review! and, I promise in the next chapter, the plot will take a huge leap forward and there will be some action, as well as more introductions!

REVIEW! (many reviews are the life of a fanfiction - quote from Socrates)


	3. Alchemy meets Ninjutsu

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except a defective brain that I got out of a recycle bin.

**Alchemy no Jutsu: Hagane no Shinobi**

Chapter 3: Hagane no Shinobi

_I will never give up. That is my ninja way._

_-Uzimaki Naruto

* * *

_

Ed found himself eating in a grubby ramen shop, squeezed between Naruto and Sakura. He couldn't help but stare at Sakura's pink hair – it was a bit conspicuous and strange. Ed only found it stranger when he asked and realized this was its natural color. Naruto was a ramen-eating-machine who could finish four bowls in the blink of an eye. Sasuke seemed very quiet, detached, and distinctly aware of everything that happened around him.

"Ne, Ed, where did you come from? I mean which world?" Naruto asked unexpectedly through a mouthful of ramen. Ed, having finished his bowl of ramen, pushed it aside and replied without looking at Naruto, "Somewhere far, far away. It's too bothersome to explain."

"Please do. I want to know why your right arm and left leg are metal." Sasuke cut in, his voice devoid of emotion as always. "If someone has the skill to do that in your world, where you live is a very interesting place."

"You knew my arm and leg are automail? Oh, let me guess, my left and right footsteps make different sounds and I blocked the kunai knife with my bare arm."

Naruto and Sakura, amazingly, were not surprised. In fact, Naruto seemed amused. "Hah, I get it now! That's what '_seek the eyes of gold and limbs of steel'_ meant!"

"Well, I have a mechanic back home who can do it. Actually, in my world, many people can make artificial limbs. It's called automail engineering and quite common there."

Sakura regained her voice and asked, "Why are you missing two limbs? How long have you had steel limbs?"

Ed grimaced. "Since I was ten, but I'd rather not go into details. My younger brother and I did something forbidden…and we were punished."

Naruto persisted. "It can't be worse than anything we've done. I mean, after all, we're part of Konoha's ANBU. We've probably seen most anything." Ed gave him a strange look, and then pushed his seat back to stand up.

"I think it'd be easier to demonstrate rather to explain. I highly doubt you've seen anything like I have. Could you take me to the nearest open area where others won't be disrupted by us?"

Sasuke paid the bill and got up. Naruto and Sakura followed suit. Together, they took him to an empty training ground – the one they used to use, to be exact.

* * *

Ed looked around the training ground and commented, "You don't mind if I destroy your nice garden, do you? I'll fix it after I'm done." Naruto grinned. "Nah, this training ground won't mind – it's been through a lot." 

"Then, I'll just…" Ed gritted his teeth and clapped his hands together. "…do this." He rammed both hands into the ground and let the transmutation begin. Immediately, the ground around them exploded in a mass of rock and vegetation – even twenty-foot tall trees were uprooted like twigs. Sakura put her hands over her head while Sasuke and Naruto both drew kunai knives.

When the dust and rock finally settled, the four teenagers found themselves standing in a deep valley with towering walls of rock on each side. Naruto blinked and touched the smooth rock wall. "H-how? You only made one simple hand seal! I've never seen this kind of ninjutsu before…or is it genjutsu?"

Ed shook his head. "It was alchemy. In my world, I was a State Alchemist, so I can perform high-level alchemy. Alchemy, as I just demonstrated, means understanding something, decomposing it, and rebuilding it into something new. I merely changed the shape of the surrounding rock and vegetation, so what I just did was elementary alchemy."

Sasuke closed his eyes shortly, and, when they reopened, Ed was shocked to find they had changed from their usual black to a crimson red. Sasuke scanned the entire area and remarked, "It's not genjutsu. You actually used chakra to move the rock and vegetation…but you seemed to be pulling enormous amounts of chakra from somewhere else."

Ed sighed. "I have no idea what chakra is, but that wasn't really advanced alchemy – it was just to impress you." Ed clapped his hand together again and pressed them lightly to the floor. The rocks slowly sank and the trees righted themselves again, leaving Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura standing in the forest clearing just like before.

Ed clapped his hands and walked over to a tree. "This is far more advanced alchemy." He touched the bark of the tree lightly, the plant glowed with a blue light, pulsating, and growing as Ed channeled alchemical energy into it. When the alchemist finally stopped, the tree had grown from a sapling to a forty-foot giant. Ed tapped the bark again and the entire tree burst into a shower of cherry blossoms, falling lightly onto the ground and blanketing the clearing.

"A-amazing." Sakura watched as the petals, symbolizing her name, rained down in the millions. "How did you do that?"

Ed looked at her and said, "Alchemy consists only of creating the something new with old material. To create something, you must present something of the same mass and chemical properties. Technically, you can recreate anything you want…but there is a law that was settled by universal agreement."

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all looked questioningly at Ed, waiting for an explanation. Ed looked from one face to another before deciding that, if he was going to find out more about them, he should tell them a bit about himself first.

"There is a law in alchemy…and my brother and I broke it. You see, our dad left us when we were very young and our mother…she died when I was eight. We knew about alchemy and decided, theoretically, it was possible to recreate anything."

Sakura gave a sharp gasp. "And you tried to recreate your mother." Ed averted his eyes and swallowed a lump in his throat before continuing.

"It was taboo. Nevertheless, we tried anyways. On that night, we…we…we failed. Miserably. We created a monster, and, in exchange, my younger brother, Al, lost his entire body while I lost my left leg. Then, in my desperation, I sacrificed my right arm to seal my brother Al into a suit of armor nearby. That made me what I am now. We…did more stupid things later, but that's not part of my answer to your question. I won't go into that."

Sakura softened her voice. "I'm sorry, we never knew." Naruto struggled with himself for a second before breaking out into a forced grin.

"Well, at least we learned something new. I wonder if alchemy has anything to do with ninjutsu?"

Ed shrugged. "I've never heard of ninjutsu, but then again, I've never heard of anything in this world. I'll have to see ninjutsu before I can tell you."

Naruto, in response, began a series of hand seals before shouting, "Kage Buushin!" Immediately, a clone of Naruto appeared besides him. "Rasegan!" Sasuke gave a ghost of a smile when recognizing the all-too-familiar technique and Ed could only step backwards in shock as Naruto reduced a nearby tree to smithereens.

"There, that's ninjutsu." Naruto proclaimed, proud of his perfect execution of his favorite technique. "Is it related to alchemy?"

Ed stood in shocked silence for a moment before answering cautiously, "Unless I'm hallucinating right now, then you just created mass from ionized alpha light particles mixed with negatively decomposing gamma rays, controlled it, concentrated incredibly high levels of pure energy into your hand, and shredded the tree with enormous amounts of rotational energy."

"Huh?" Naruto understood about three words from everything that Ed said. After all, the alchemist was a genius in every area of advanced sciences. Naruto was not.

"In other words, its alchemy." Ed finished, but added an afterthought. "It's just that, with my alchemy, it would be impossible to do that. I guess the strange hand postures you made and some special property about this world I don't know about yet lets you do that. It's really strange alchemy."

Sasuke, much to his annoyance, barely understood anything that Ed said either. "Then is this alchemy? I am going to cast a genjustsu on you. Sharingan!" His pupils immediately turned crimson red and, once Ed made eye contact, Sasuke pitched him headfirst into advanced genjutsu.

Ed was standing on the training grounds a moment before he made eye contact with Sasuke's eyes. _'I wonder how he makes them turn red like that?'_ Then, next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of nowhere amidst pouring rain.

* * *

"What the hell?" Ed felt the cold rain seeping into his clothes, and, when he turned around, a house materialized out of thin air. Ed, in curiosity, pulled open the door and immediately found himself sucked inside. The moment he was inside, gravity must have gotten confused, because he fell down from the floor and onto the ceiling, which should be completely impossible. 

Ed clapped his hands together and tried to alchemize something, anything. Absolutely nothing happened. That meant that there was only two possible explanations for this: either he was hallucinating for real, or he had been sent to another world again.

Then again, considering that gravity wasn't functioning properly, Ed came to the conclusion that he was hallucinating. He stood up from the ceiling and told himself, "I'm hallucinating, aren't I?"

Immediately, his surroundings dissolved into a blur and Ed found himself in a clearing again, with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. He blinked, working his brain furiously to come up with an explanation. "Was that genjutsu?"

Sasuke nodded. "It was a very simple illusion, considering that you could not interact with your environment."

Ed blinked, then smirked. "Now I'm interested. How 'bout we make a deal? I'll teach you all alchemy, and you all have to teach me this ninja stuff."

* * *

A/N: 

Ahahaha, I like…forgot about this fic for a while, and then, by the time some wonderful people reviewed and reminded me, it was already a LONG LONG TIME since my last update. DEEPEST APOLOGIES bows down and begs for forgiveness

Anyways, the storyline is completely planned out now, so fear not! Since the votes between long and short chapters is roughly even, I'll settle for slightly shorter, but more medium length chappies!

Kay, that's about all I have to say…except for drumroll

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW LIKE CRAZY AND I'LL GIVE YOU A COOKIE (maybe :P)!


	4. Training Blues

Disclaimer: Me does not own Naruto but wishes me did. Me also has severe grammar problems.

_For Your Information: This chapter is sort of like a transitional chapter. Not much action. Sorry people!_

**Alchemy no Jutsu: Hagane no Shinobi**

Chapter 4: Training Blues

_No pain, no gain; Equivalent Exchange; the Law of Conservation…they make sense…but I don't think they apply to the heart._

_-Haruno Sakura

* * *

_

His arms felt dead. His legs felt dead. Every single muscle in his body felt dead. For goodness sakes, _HE_ felt dead.

Ed groaned. How he seriously regretted ever asking for training sessions from a ninja – they were pure hell. Even the warm-up exercises had been inhuman, much less the training itself.

The pink-haired girl, Sakura, had written up an acceptable training schedule to instruct him in the fine arts of the ninja _at first_. Unfortunately, her two friends, Naruto and Sasuke (the dobe and the teme, respectively) decided to help and, ahem, _accelerate_ the learning process.

Now he was completing an obscene training schedule that was most definitely pushing human limits. Running 40km a day with two metal limbs in midsummer was crazy by itself, only Ed had to do about 250 _one-handed_ push-ups and 1050 sit-ups. However, before he could complain, Naruto showed him _his_ training schedule, which suddenly made Ed very happy with his.

However, as Ed trained, he usually carried a few scrolls describing ninjutsu and this strange concept of _chakra_ with him. Apparently, judging from his three shinobi friends, his rate of learning was unbelievable, making him a genius. Ed shrugged it off as beginner's luck, but they were not convinced. He didn't understand what they meant until Sasuke explained that Ed had mastered a fairly difficult Chuunin technique in _half a day_. It usually took normal shinobi _two months_.

Ed joked about the obscene training schedule finally paying off until Naruto mentioned that they had only given him _half_ the usual amount, considering that it was midsummer and he had two metal limbs. Ed shuddered – to think that he thought Izumi-sensei's training had actually been difficult.

Therefore, Ed would train and learn ninjutsu every working day of the week, but he would have to teach Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura alchemy on the weekends. Ed was also amazed at how fast they picked up the concepts, even if he did laugh at their first attempts. Naruto had tried to transmute water into ice, which was about as basic as alchemy got, and ended up blowing up the entire area surrounding the hot springs.

Once the fog had cleared away, Ed had laughed at Naruto, who was charred from the explosion. Naruto had then said the taboo word: short. The entire area surrounding the hot springs had exploded again, this time – intentionally. Sasuke and Sakura watched in silence as their short blond friend was chased by their _shorter_ blonde friend and made mental notes never to mention anything about height around Ed.

Then everything had halted to a stop when the owners of the hot springs had arrived. They were NOT amused.

* * *

Ed was reading deeply into one of the scrolls that he borrowed from Konoha's vast library and forming complex theories about ninjutsu in his head. Apparently, in this world, people had a gate _inside them_ that drained energy from them physically. However, people in this world, having gone through ridiculous training, had much more energy than normal people EVER should.

The people who could use the gate inside of themselves were called shinobi, roughly equal to alchemists back in Amestris, Ed concluded. The energy and concepts of ninjutsu and alchemy were roughly parallel, except that drawing energy from yourself was executed in a different fashion than drawing energy through a gate.

In alchemy, the power of an alchemist depended completely on how well they could control the flow of energy from the gate. This provided a theoretically infinite supply of energy. However, shinobi drew _chakra_ from their own bodies with techniques that physically manifested them. When Ed learned about summoning techniques, he realized that, if a shinobi had enough energy, they could actually pry open the gate and pull something out of it, as crazy as it might sound.

In equivalent exchange (which Ed was still sure held true in this world), the user would lose the amount of energy, or _chakra_, needed to summon whatever it was they chose. However, summoning usually needed a more complicated process than normal ninjutsu, often involving _summoning arrays_. Ed had studied them and found, so his surprise, that they were somewhat equivalent to transmutation circles.

Then revelation hit him. The people here had summoned him using an array. There were a lot of them working together to do it, so Ed assumed that a lot of energy was necessary to complete the task. _These people had forcibly pried open the Gate and pulled him through_.

Ed's eyes widened, then he smirked to himself, feeling a wave of accomplishment wash through him. If the people here had enough energy to bring him here, then they probably had some means to send him back.

If he completed whatever task they brought him here for, then, reasonably, they should send him back. Equivalent Exchange, right? Flawless.

* * *

Then Ed was jerked out of his thoughts by a sudden explosion near the west gate. He looked up from his reading and found Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura dashing towards him. Upon closer inspection, all three of them had drawn their weapons and were covered in dirt and grime. Naruto was bleeding slightly from his left shoulder and Sasuke's eyes were in that strange, red-comma mode again. Sakura was running next to Naruto, hands emitting a blue glow as she healed his shoulder.

"Ed, we need to get you out of here." Naruto shouted once they reached him. Ed's eyes narrowed as he remembered the explosion near the west gate.

"Why, and what happened?"

Naruto continued again, slightly out of breath from running all the way from the west gate, which was on the other side of the village.

"Konoha is under attack."

* * *

A/N:

ahaha, another grueling chapter in which almost nothing happens I'M SORRY PPL! but, i mean, every story needs a transition chappie somewhere, right?

I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER HAS FIGHTING AND WHATNOT!

one condition though - THOU...MUST...REVIEW!

REVIEW!

NOW!

WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU WAITING FOR!

HELLO? WHY ARE YOU STILL READING?

hurry up and review already!


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